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This is the second of 2 parts of Jessica Roemischer’s interview with Spiral Dynamics wizard Don Beck. Read part one.

Jessica Roemischer: Which candidate do you think is best suited to institute this new trans-partisan approach to governance—Obama or McCain?

Don Beck: I think both candidates have strengths in this regard. But after eight years, the “out party”—the Democrats—are in a much better position to do this because the “in party” is exhausted. When you look at the people Bush has had in important roles, you can see that a party that maintains power for eight years runs out of steam. I think there’s a freshness in the Obama camp and a lot of popular support for him with high levels of energy. I think he’s more equipped to do something like what I’m describing. Certainly Obama’s background also suggests that to us.

Yet, much can be said for McCain—his courage, strength and resolve. He probably has the ability to deal with foreign affairs much better than Obama does. But there are elements to his right which concern me—for example, the element behind so much of the warfare. Similarly, to Obama’s left, that hard liberal system is destructive for us because it won’t institute the kind of policies that are necessary for most of the population. I’m worried about extremity on both sides of them.

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Jessica’s interview with Spiral Dynamics wizard Don Beck continues the conversation on integral views of sticky subjects that Uli started yesterday. Understanding and including all points of view can be difficult when the air is charged with so many polarized views as it is in this election season. My own feelings lead me toward the far-left viewpoints I’ve always espoused, while my intention leads me toward a more integral view, so I’m grateful for Dr. Beck’s perspective as it gives me a framework to understand and choose my reactions.

Jessica is doing wonderful work to awaken through music the transformative power of beauty in each of us and to bring integral perspectives into view. I’m grateful for the opportunity to include her voice on The Sunny Way, as her work embodies exactly what we are trying to create—a new way of living and relating with each other that reaches into and elicits the best parts of what it means to be human. -ed.

As I’ve watched the presidential campaign unfold in my living room, I’ve become increasingly unsettled by the cultural schism it’s revealing. Robo-calls from John McCain, caustic opinion pieces on Sarah Palin (often by women), FOX news, MSNBC, negative campaigning—Left and Right. In this highly charged atmosphere, it’s been difficult to make sense of things. I’ve even questioned my longstanding allegiance to the Democratic Party, which has made it challenging to find common ground with friends I’ve known for years. In search of a different perspective on the election, I was compelled to seek out global activist, Dr. Don E. Beck, whom I interviewed in 2002 for What is Enlightenment? Magazine (now EnlightenNext magazine).

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Uli’s piece on deepening her long-held beliefs around abortion is a powerful example of what we can discover about ourselves and about Life with a big L when we go beyond simple polarizations like left and right and really look deeply into our experiences and motivations. I believe this kind of self-evaluation and opening to opposite points of view is exactly what we need to do to move beyond the Culture War. Uli, thank you for bravely sharing your integral thoughts on this very divisive subject. -ed.

We have been contemplating the culture war here on The Sunny Way for a while now. During these elections, Sarah Palin and all, it is highlighted even more. So I wanted to pick up the thread.

In thinking about this article it soon became clear that it is impossible to cover the breadth of this topic in a single blog-length piece and how important it was to speak about this together. So this is a starting point for a discussion that will hopefully take us into new territory, beyond the current frozen frontiers….

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Image by Chad Davis

Ever since I first attended a local meeting of the Obama campaign I have been continually struck by what I encounter in this movement: For one, an intense focus - everyone, you can tell, is barely sleeping and overwhelmed by how much there is to do, but determined to use this opportunity for change. I wake up in the mornings with their tired faces in front of my eyes. Seeing the people and the way this grassroots campaign is being run both up and down the hierarchical ladder I really get that Obama indeed does mean this: Change. Not just the word, but the thing itself.

When the man in charge of the campaign for Massachusetts introduced himself at that meeting he spoke respectfully and humbly about wanting to make the effort to infuse what he had observed in Obama on the trail with him—his clarity, openness and ability to listen and think in ways that do not divide—into his work with us, the volunteers.

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We’ve been doing The Sunny Way for more than 6 months now, and we’ve learned a lot. At this point, though, what we’d most like to learn about is you, our readers. The site stats say you are here, and though we hear from you sometimes, we want to know more about who you are, what you care about, and what you like and want from The Sunny Way so we can give you more and more of it.

Our goal with this site is to build a community of people who are willing to stand up and be the ones to make the world the way it ought to be. So please chime into the comments today, introduce yourself, and get to know your fellow future creators.

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Composting in the garden

This is the third of three parts of Victoria’s interview with Sister Jeanne Clark of the Homecoming project and Sophia Garden. Read part one and part two.

VG: When did you decide to become a nun?

SJ: In 1958 at the age of twenty-one, I entered the convent. Before that I worked as a secretary in an advertising agency for three years.

VG: And you grew up on Long Island? Is that why you were saying you wanted to come home?

SJ: When I speak about “Coming Home” I’m really talking about coming home to Earth and the Universe. Actually when I first came into the understanding of myself as coming out of Earth and being so connected with Earth, I wanted to help others see this connection.

I wanted to do the work that I am doing now on the West Coast where I had spent five years. It was so beautiful there right near Seattle and in the midst of the Cascade and Olympic Mountains. I thought of the people there as much more progressive. And to me at the time Long Island seemed like a wasteland of consumerism. I didn’t want to stay here.

But my congregation of Dominican Sisters wanted me to stay as did my friends and the people with whom I had been meeting and envisioning living life sustainably on Long Island.

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The universe with sticks

This is the second of three parts of Victoria’s interview with Sister Jeanne Clark of the Homecoming project and Sophia Garden. Read part one.

SJ: It is a challenge. Things are changing. It’s all part of the evolution. We are becoming different people. We offer three children’s programs in the summer. A new group started today. The children learned about the story of the universe and how the universe came to be.

VG: Oh my, it’s so important that you are teaching children about the universe.

SJ: Yes. They find out where Earth came from and that we are part of Earth. The first thing many of the children do when they come to the garden is swat the bees and the ants. I tell them, “Oh wait a minute. We are outdoors now. This is where these creatures live. This is their home. The ants probably do a lot more work for Earth than we do. We leave them here; we don’t kill them.”

Then we teach them the Story of the Universe and how it came to be. They see how the humans enter late in the Story and how they are part of the WEB of life. So we are teaching people about Earth through Sophia Learning Center and providing certified organic food through Sophia Garden. These are the two projects of Homecoming.

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Sister Jeanne with children

Sophia Garden is a 1½ acre certified organic farm in Amityville, Long Island. It lies on land owned by the Dominican Sisters of Amityville. Towards the back of their property is the farm, a colorful, lively area of vegetables, flowers, tool and harvest sheds. In late 1996, the Sophia Garden was started on a section of the Dominican sisters’ land that was an orchard in years gone by. The farm produces organic vegetables within the CSA model of agriculture that joins suburban families with locally grown organic produce. In 2006, the farm was moved to a different area of the sisters’ property where it currently exists.

In our Sunny Way efforts to open up dialogue, and listen to varied perspectives, we thought that reaching out to religious communities could foster relationships to figure out how we’re going to create an inspiring, hopeful future where all of life, in all its variety is cherished and encouraged to thrive.

I interviewed Sr. Jeanne this past August in the garden. She spoke about her life, dreams, and works for social justice. I was so impressed by her courage and vision to start the Sophia Garden that I decided to volunteer there once per week. I am learning how to approach the time I spend there with absolute openness and humility. There’s so much to be curious about when I greet the garden’s plants, insects, and people with a truly open mind. It’s also fun and rewarding to see the vegetables thrive from my careful weeding.

Sr. Jeanne’s story unfolds beautifully in this interview. She has transformed her own search for community and home into a vibrantly accessible garden and learning program that suburban Long Islanders are rejoicing in.

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For the next several weeks, we will be discussing Aldous Huxley’s Island. Click here for all the book club posts.

On Susila’s second visit to Will Farnaby, they talk about their families and the ways in which they did and did not function. Farnaby’s mother was weak and his father domineering and cruel, while Susila had a quiet father and an exuberant mother. To Susila’s more reserved constitution, her mother “was like a permanent invasion of one’s privacy.”

The difference between the fractured, resentful result of Farnaby’s upbringing and the integrated, forward-looking result of Susila’s is the Palanese family structure.

The first difference is a conception of family relationship which is not fixed or based on duty. Susila explains that although her mother raised her, as adults there is no pressure for them to maintain a deep relationship. “‘Mother’ is strictly the name of a function,” she says. “When the function has been duly fulfilled, the title lapses; the ex-child and the woman who used to be called ‘Mother’ establish a new kind of relationship. If they get on well together, they continue to see a lot of each other. If they don’t, they drift apart. Nobody expects them to cling, and clinging isn’t equated with loving--isn’t regarded as anything particularly creditable.”

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Home-preserved food conjures up strong feelings for me. When I was little my grandparents had a big garden, and my grandpa would bribe my brother and sister and I with promises of root beer floats at the A&W drive-in to get us to pick all the strawberries. I remember the thrill of hunting for flashes of bright red in the rows of green.

We’d eat our fill in handfuls and in shortcakes, then a little while later the strawberries would re-emerge as grandma’s beautiful preserves, rows and rows of mason jars glowing bright red-pink on the kitchen shelf. I didn’t properly appreciate this at the time, but now it’s one of my fondest memories, and I wish I had Grandma Dietz’s recipes.

The other day Victoria and I were discussing her upcoming story on preserving the bountiful harvest she’s had in her garden this year, and I told her how I couldn’t wait for plum trees and strawberry plants of my own so that I could try my hand at carrying on my grandparents’ legacy. This morning she thoughtfully sent me this video featuring June Taylor, an artisanal baker and jam and marmalade maker whose focus is on capturing the essence, flavor, and color of the fruit she’s working with.

I love June’s passion and respect for the fruit she’s working with. New preservers often ask her for precise recipes, but she says “there’s not certainties in food.” She judges when each batch’s readiness based on how it pours and how it feels.

Using fresh organic fruit and natural pectin from Meyer lemons, Judy and an assistant can produce about 150 jars a day. “I haven’t seen a way to scale this up without, in my terms, compromising the quality of the work,” she says.

Small producers of high-quality foods form the backbone of the decentralized, local, fresh food system that we need to build. And preserves can easily be made at home by anyone with a big pot, a few hours of time, and a lot of fruit on their hands. As Judy says, “Let’s remember, this is just preserved fruit, and there’s nothing stopping us but our imaginations.”

I’ll let you know when how my first round of preserving goes. In the meantime, enjoy this video, and let us know about your adventures in food preservation in the comments.

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Barack Obama on the campaign trail

Last night after the debate, I was watching Charlie Rose when one of my favorite contributors, presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin, was asked by another participant what she thought Obama’s motivation was. In previous presidents like Clinton, Bush I, and Bush II, the pundit claimed, there was a deep-seated need to prove themselves, a desire to serve, yes, but married to a desire to “be the president.” Obama, he said, doesn’t seem to have that kind of personal stake, so where does his energy and commitment come from?

Kearns Goodwin replied that her sense was that Obama had decided to run now (instead of waiting his turn as others in the Democratic party might have wanted him to) because he sensed that now is the opportune time when Americans can and will take the leap into the future. He sensed that this is the time when he could have not merely a presidency, but a great presidency, one in which he could truly lead and truly serve. 

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image by KitAy

Ever since I moved out on my own in my late teens my life has been busy, but recently it’s gotten to be even more so. I’m working two part-time jobs, I’m home with the kids part-time, running the oldest to and from school, volunteering, writing for The Sunny Way and trying to keep the house running smoothly. I love it, but it is definitely presenting some new challenges.

This is the kind of schedule that frequently throws people off and sends them running for fast food and convenience foods and I admit there have been some stumbles. Twice this week I have used my 30th birthday as a lame excuse to order take-out because I was tired. I’m realizing that it is once again time to reevaluate my food shopping and cooking routines.

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Starting the ride!

Actually, I don’t want to really wrap up this challenge. But yes……the 100 mile bike ride is done!!!

October 5th was a perfect fall day in Arcadia National Park, ME—no strong winds, bright blue sky, crisp air, and a great spirit amongst 250 riders of all levels.

During my sleep the night before I kept feeling I had already done the ride. Then, waking up and getting ready, I was nervous. 100 miles was just more than I could get my head around. Even though I had done 90 miles before, I had ridden them with some long breaks and I wasn’t going to take any this time.

Once on the road though, nature’s beauty, the other riders around me, and my own determination carried me to ride at record speed until, on a steep hill at mile 22, my gear system broke. And from then on it was up and down, on and off the bike to keep putting back the chain that kept derailing when I changed gears. It wasn’t what I had anticipated, to put it mildly, but there was no question about giving up.

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For the next several weeks, we will be discussing Aldous Huxley’s Island. Click here for all the book club posts.

As Will Farnaby rests up, he begins to read Notes on What’s What, and on What It Might be Reasonable to Do about What’s What, a short book written by the Old Raja of Pala, laying out some of the ideas behind the design of Pala’s culture.

As he turns the pages, a poem written by the healer Susila, who has recently lost her husband in a mountain climbing accident, falls out. It’s a lovely piece of writing about accepting one’s life, loves and losses included, as it is, then, having accepted it, seeing it all as part of a larger, impersonal process. Here is a part of it:

Somewhere between seeing and speaking, somewhere
Between our soiled and greasy currency of words
And the first star, the great moths fluttering
About the ghosts of flowers,
Lies the clear place where I, no longer I,
Nevertheless remember
Love’s nightlong wisdom of the other shore;
And, listening to the wind, remember too
That other night, that first of widowhood,
Sleepless, with death beside me in the dark.
Mine, mine, all mine inescapably!
But I, no longer I,
In this clear place between my thought and silence
See all that I had and lost, anguish and joys,
Glowing like gentians in the Alpine grass
Blue, unpossessed and open.

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Last night was the first night of the year when I really felt like knitting, and I’d been meaning to watch the talk Jules Dervaes gave last spring at UCLA for a long time, so I fired up YouTube and watched as I whipped up a couple of washcloths. I really enjoyed Dervaes’s low-key yet passionate style, and it’s great to get a little glimpse into the man behind Path to Freedom, a project and a website which have inspired thousands of people to take up the cause of freedom gardening and the 100 foot diet.

Dervaes touches on many topics in his talk—most striking was the fact that our society offers 1000 choices of shoe companies but only 150 choices of food plant varieties, 4 of which (rice, corn, wheat, and potato) provide 60% of our diet. He also encourages students to start growing at least a little of their own food, even if it’s only basil on a windowsill of their dorm rooms, saying that the first step is the hardest and most important.

“We’re trying to live the inconvenient solution,” he says. “We’re trying to put the roots in the grass roots.”

I hope you enjoy what Jules has to say. Plus if you watch the whole thing you’ll get to see the biggest squash you ever saw! Part 1 is below. Parts 2-5 can be found after the jump.

Part 1

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